1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loading mechanism of cassette tape recorder, and especially relates to loading mechanism of a cassette tape recorder such as digital audio tape recorder having a cassette holder for carrying the cassette between an insert position and a setting position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional loading mechanism of cassette tape recorder of, for example, a digital audio tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as DAT) is described referring to FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a part of the loading mechanism for holding and carrying a cassette. In FIG. 6, a cassette holder 2 holds and carries a cassette 1 which contains a magnetic tape wound between an insert position where the cassette 1 is inserted and a setting position where the magnetic tape is scanned by head. The cassette holder 2 has springs 3, 3 fixed thereon for pressing the cassette 1 and guide pins 5, 5 provided on both outside wails for guiding the motion of the cassette. A frame 4 has L-letter shaped guide grooves 4a, 4a provided on both vertical walls 4b, 4b for guiding the movement of the guide pins 5.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the DAT wherein the frame 4 is contained in a box-shaped housing 6. A front vessel 7 is provided in front of the housing 6 and has an offset apart 7a and recesses 7b, wherefrom, for example, a screw driver is to be inserted for driving screws for fixing or removing the DAT on or from a console box of an automobile. The recesses 7b are covered behind a cover panel 30.
FIG. 8 is a partially cross-sectional side view showing the conventional loading mechanism of the DAT and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a typical tape driving mechanism of tile DAT.
In FIG. 9, the loading mechanism comprises a deck 8 to be mounted in the housing 6, a pair of reel winders 9 provided on the deck 8 to be coupled with reels of the cassette 1 (not shown in tile figure), a capstan motor 31, a rotary drum 32, a tape driving motor 33 and a printed circuit board 10 disposed below the deck 8 and electric parts 11 fixed thereon (shown in FIG. 8). As shown in FIG. 8, a clearance having a measurement H.sub.1 is kept between tile bottom face 2a of the cassette holder 2 and the top 9a of the reel winders 9 so as not to collide the cassette 1 with the reel winders 9 during in horizontal movement of the cassette holder 2.
Operation of the conventional loading mechanism of the DAT is described.
When the cassette 1 is inserted into the cassette holder 2, the cassette 1 is held in the cassette holder 2 by pressure of the springs 3. After that, the cassette holder 2 is moved from the insert position to the setting position by a driving source (not shown in the figures), in a manner that tile guide pins 5 on the cassette holder 2 makes a L-letter shaped trail by being guided by the guide grooves 4a. On the,setting position, the cassette 1 is set on a predetermined setting position by coupling of positioning holes on the cassette 1 with positioning pins on the deck 8 and holes of the reels in the cassette 1 are also coupled with the reel winders 9 (these are not shown in the figures because of obviousness).
Generally, the sizes of the housing 6 are standardized to be mounted on the console box of the automobile. The above-mentioned conventional loading mechanism of the DAT has a problem that the standardized housing 6 has no room between the deck 8 and bottom wall of the housing 6 for integrating a radio circuit on the printed circuit substrate 10.